Researchers have determined after doing a gene study that ancient Europeans were predominantly light skinned and mostly lactose-intolerant. The genetic material was from 5,000 years ago and was extracted from the teeth of 101 ancient humans. The researchers have also gained insight into how mass migrations caused changes in Europe's people of that crucial historical era.

The genes belonged to Europeans who lived in the Bronze Age, which lasted from around the year 3000 B. C. to 1000 B. C. The findings of the study have been published in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

It was during that era that humans started adopting agricultural lifestyle. "We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia", said the researchers.

After doing a meticulous analysis of some key genes, the researchers gained knowledge about what Bronze Age Europeans looked like. The researchers came across widespread distribution of a gene that had an association with light skin. Hints for blue eyes came from medium distribution for a gene.

The researchers were left surprised after learning that about 10% of the European samples showed evidence of a gene linked to lactose tolerance. It has been showed by previous researches that the ability to digest milk should have been widely possessed by Europeans by 3000 BC.

The study results will help conduct many future studies to lift the lid off many secrets, said Martin Sikora, an author of the Nature paper who is based at the Center for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen's Natural History Museum.